


Daybreak in the Pearl Galaxy

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, M/M, Poe Dameron/Finn Fluff, Protective Poe Dameron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:07:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23386354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: With Poe's guidance, Poe's gentle support keeping him afloat, Finn grows, and he begins to understand the meaning of love.Contains major spoilers for Episode IX.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 10
Kudos: 52





	Daybreak in the Pearl Galaxy

They're lying in the grass one night, pressed against each other from the sides of their feet all the way up to their ears (which aren't _quite_ aligned - Poe will never admit it, but Finn's the taller of the two, even if it's only by the smallest margin) when Finn finally breaks. 

He's never told Poe about his life before they met, about his growing up in the First Order. He's told Rey bits and pieces, fragments between missions that he's sure she's forgotten over time as other, more important things have risen to the surface, but even she has never heard his full story.

He can forgive her, he thinks, if she has forgotten it all. If the circumstances were reversed he knows she would forgive him too.

They have time now, all the time in the world to catch up, and he will be waiting to tell it all to her again as soon as she is ready to hear it. For now, she can rest.

But there's something about the stars that night.

They're the same stars he's spent his life sleeping under, surrounded by, that have filled the open void beyond every window he's ever looked out of, but with the warmth of Poe's body pressed alongside his they are brighter.

It is this brightness that floods his mind and runs along his tongue like honey, warm and coaxing out the truth, balancing it on his lips until he whispers " _they hit us_ " into the open air and instantly realises how stupid he must sound. Of _course_ the First Order beat them.

"I'm sorry," are the words that follow, from his own mouth again, because Poe's lips are open in shock or horror or something similar but he's not making any noise just yet. "That was stupid, I-"

Poe's hand finds his in the grass and holds onto it tight. "Don't apologise. _Don't_."

"I-"

"No, Finn. You can say anything out here remember? _Anything_ , no matter how stupid you think-" he runs his free hand across his own face, a movement that Finn traces out of the corner of his eye, but can't bear to turn and watch fully. Poe sighs wearily, deep in his chest, and Finn can feel their hands move with the way Poe's whole body rises and falls. "It's _never_ stupid, buddy. Trust me. Never with you."

Finn squeezes Poe's hand tighter, leans closer into the pilot until his face is nestled in his neck and he's breathing the smell of grease and fuel right off of his jacket. He's thankful. He just hopes Poe can sense it.

***

Poe _must_ sense it, because he's suddenly finding ways to tell Finn _all the time_ that he's safe now and that, in all of his broken glory, he is still worthy of love.

He didn't know that his personal safety was much of a worry of his before Poe's onslaught began. He has always known deep down that he is protected here, that they - whoever they are - cannot reach him here.

But now the knowledge is on the surface, is in the way Poe will smile over a couple of mugs of rather watery tea and will say "you're safe here, you know?" or how he will casually mention to Finn that they're stuck with each other now, _forever and ever_.

These inescapable reminders that, though hard to bear at times (on those days he'll request a bit of peace, and Poe will _always_ grant it without a moment's hesitation) keep him somewhat sane in the knowledge that it's over. It's all over. And they're safe, together.

And _oh_ , how Poe shows him love.

He drags him down random footpaths on their days off to show Finn rockpools and flowers that he has found, often describes them later in the mess hall in such vivid colours that Finn isn't sure Poe showed him the right ones. Poe can twist words when he wants to, and he can twist them well. Well enough that even the most beautiful of sights can't quite do his descriptions of them justice.

Poe holds Finn tight when he needs to be held and expects nothing in return. He collects wildflowers for Finn and arranges them in pretty fistfuls, leaving them scattered around Finn's quarters for him to return to after particularly long days.

Poe skips his favourite dances on many of those initial celebratory nights to sit with Finn beneath the branches of a nearby tree, swaddled in the quilts from their beds, and watch the festivities from a comfortable distance. The other, easier routines he teaches to Finn in the confines of his bedroom, so they may someday dance together with the people they love.

With Poe's guidance, Poe's gentle support keeping him afloat, Finn _grows_ , and he begins to understand the meaning of love.

***

They celebrate the General's birthday, something Poe can't remember them ever having done whilst she was alive. It comes at the insistence of Rey, who says it would do them all good to remember the sacrifice of the Skywalkers, of Han Solo and his son Ben, and how they all helped them to win the war in their own ways.

Poe stiffens at the suggestion of Kylo Ren being respected among the Resistance, senses a lot of his peers react in much the same way. The tide has changed, though, lines have been crossed and redrawn - they saw it with Hux, why not with Ren?

Poe calls a moment of remembrance, for their leaders lost and the fighters they too lost along the way. He watches the way Finn comforts Rey after the silence has passed.

He thinks of Kylo Ren, broken and dying on Exegol, ready to give his life in service of the light, after a lifetime of living in the dark. He thinks of Ben Solo, and his realisation that a life without Rey was no life if everyone else believed him incapable of good. He thinks of a _boy_ who was failed, and who spent his life searching for love in all the wrong places.

Poe watches Finn comfort Rey with a warm adoration and realises that, despite all those he has loved and lost, his life is not _nearly_ as bad as it could be.

***

They fall into bed together that night.

Finn isn't sure if it's the drinks in his system or the way his emotions have been running wild all day long, but he kisses Poe, warm and close and _feeling_. He's taking him apart bit by bit, getting to know these new parts of Poe that he's never been shown before, the parts of his soul that are cold, barely touched.

Poe opens his heart to Finn, gives him free reign, an all-access pass to the deepest parts of him, where his childhood spirit runs free and his aged wit grins.

They kiss for hours, pulling at each other's clothes until they're pressed flush together, still kissing until Finn asks if they can stop. Just for now, he promises, just until tomorrow. Poe obliges with a smile, and falls asleep wrapped in Finn's arms.

***

"I love you," Poe whispers to him one morning, as the first sun rises above the trees and they are bathed in its golden light. He's using his words this time, speaking them right into the shell of Finn's ear where they stand holding each other at the top of a waterfall that Poe _swears_ he's never seen before, but which Finn has definitely been to with him _at least twice_. "I just- I thought you should know."

Finn nods, laces his fingers in Poe's hair. "I already do."

**Author's Note:**

> In my defence, they're gay, Your Honour.
> 
> If there are any errors, please be aware I wrote this at 4am in the middle of a post-Episode IX angst-fest. I also haven't rewatched it since it came out so any meaningful editing on my part at this point in time would be absolutely void.
> 
> Either way, I love my gay space sons.


End file.
